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Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today

Mississippi House speaker Philip Gunn, center, and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, right, talk after Gov. Tate Reeves press conference at the State of Mississippi Woolfolk Building in Jackson, Miss., Thursday, May 7, 2020.

After lawmakers failed on Monday to whip enough votes to change the state flag, the Legislature’s two presiding officers — Speaker Philip Gunn in the House and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann in the Senate — opted to take a different approach Tuesday morning: organize a meeting on the issue with many of the state’s religious leaders.

Leaders of organizations representing Baptists, Roman Catholics, United Methodists and Pentecostals attended a meeting Tuesday morning at Mississippi College with Gunn and Hosemann to discuss changing the state flag, which features the Confederate battle emblem.

Soon after the meeting, the influential Mississippi Baptist Convention came out in support of changing the flag, as did Ligon Duncan III, chancellor of the Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson.

Two other statewide elected officials — Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney and Attorney General Lynn Fitch — also attended the meeting. Chaney said it was productive to have a discussion on such a divisive issue as the flag.

“It was basically a discussion that the lieutenant governor and speaker put together with the religious community,” Chaney said. “It was good.”

No other statewide officials attended the meeting, though they were invited.

Many mainline religious organizations, such as the United Methodists, Episcopalians and Roman Catholics, already had endorsed changing the flag. The Pentecostals, though they were represented at the Tuesday morning meeting, still have not publicly endorsed changing the flag.

As pressure intensifies from the state’s top business leaders, collegiate athletic associations and others to change the flag, lawmakers continue working behind closed doors to garner the votes in the Legislature to change the banner.

As those efforts have fallen short thus far this week, and with time running out to take up the issue during the current session, Hosemann and Gunn opted to try to include input from the religious community. Neither Hosemann nor Gunn commented on the meeting of religious leaders on Tuesday.

Rep. Scott Bounds, R-Philadelphia, said traditionally the Baptists “have had influence on legislation. It is hard to say if they will on this.”

The 500,000-member strong Baptist Convention has had influence on various social issues, such as restricting abortions, but has had less influence in recent years in other areas. Over the objections of Baptist leaders, the Legislature has enacted a lottery, expanded casino gambling and relaxed liquor laws in the state.

Sen. Daniel Sparks, R-Belmont, said, he did not know if the Baptist support for changing the flag would have an impact.

“Until we see what the proposal is, it is hard to say what will move the needle,” Sparks said. “But I cannot vote for anything other than an election.”

Sparks said he made a commitment when campaigning last year that he would only support a vote of the people if there were efforts to change the flag.

Sen. Joel Carter, R-Gulfport, said thus far he does not believe the position taken by the powerful Baptist group has changed many minds in the Senate.

“But it is still early,” he said.

But Carter said many members are saying there should be no vote in the current national environment of protests spurred by recent protests leading to the removal of many Confederate emblems and statutes.

He said the state should have an honest discussion of the issue and “not a knee jerk reaction.”

Lawmakers plan to wrap up the 2020 legislative session on Friday.

The post Lacking legislative votes to change state flag, Gunn and Hosemann turn to religious leaders for help appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today, Report For America

Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs speaks to media about coronavirus updates on March 16, 2020.

After four days without full data updates, the first full single-day data report since June 17 showed the most-ever new cases reported in a single day — 611 new cases with 11 new deaths — which brings the rolling average to a new peak as well, at nearly 400 new daily cases. 

The Mississippi Department of Health said last week that the data delays were due to “legacy software issues impacting its ability to create detailed reports.”

The software causing the state health department’s data delays is called “Epi-Tracks”, a public health epidemiology tracking tool from Phoenix-based Scientific Technologies Corporation. According to state government contract records, MSDH spent $33,675 in 2017 enhancing the software. 

Until Monday, hospitalization data was the only new data released since June 19, when the Mississippi Department of Health issued new case numbers for June 17. Though technical problems have lately delayed daily reports, only once before now – June 11 – has the agency completely forgone daily numbers. During the delay, hospitalizations peaked in Mississippi to the most-ever reported levels, ranking second in the U.S. for per capita and per case current hospitalizations.

Monday, WLBT reported that MSDH is in the process of replacing the system, after the data delays were restored. In total, MSDH has spent $3,344,423 on six contracts with Scientific Technologies Corporation since 2011, including a $1 million renewal early this year, by request for proposal. 

Over the past decade, MSDH has gone through rounds of budget cuts from the state legislature that have netted the agency flat funding since 2010. After increasing to more than $64 million in fiscal year 2016, MSDH’s share of the budget was cut by almost 10 percent two years later down to just over $57 million. It has edged back up to almost $62 million for 2020, just under where it was in 2010.

On Monday, the state health department released combined data for the past five days after last week’s “legacy software issues” that kept the agency from producing daily case counts and other data.

Monday, MSDH reported 1,646 new cases and 40 new deaths for June 17 through June 21. The agency is missing daily case counts for June 18 through June 21. Until then, June 16 was the last day for which the agency had updated cases by county.

Mississippi now has its highest seven-day rolling average* for new cases yet at 392. Before Sunday, that number last peaked at 331 on June 12.

Mississippi’s hospitalization rate has climbed to one of the highest in the country, reaching second among all states on Sunday. Monday’s new data brought the state to third highest.

The seven-day rolling average for illness onset — the day people report they got sick — hit a new peak, reaching 324 a day on May 29.

The rolling average for daily tests is at 3,228, roughly the same as a week ago. However that number has dropped about 40 percent from two weeks ago.

As of Monday, MSDH has reported 17,242 recoveries, 77 percent of all cases.

*Note: For the purpose of daily case counts and averages, Mississippi Today evenly split the new cases between four days — not including June 17, for which MSDH already provided a daily count.

Alex Rozier contributed to this report. 

The post After days without data, state reports most new COVID-19 cases in one day appeared first on Mississippi Today.

All my professional life I have wondered what it would take for all the universities in Mississippi to agree on any matter under the sun. Just once.

And now I know: It’s the state flag of Mississippi — specifically, the need to get rid of the current flag.

The archaic and now widely reviled 1894 flag has brought Ole Miss Rebels and Mississippi State Bulldogs, the ultimate Hatfields and McCoys, together. The Golden Eagles from Southern Miss, for once, agree with the two older universities. Historically black universities Jackson State, Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State take the same side. Mississippi College and Delta State, bitter rivals for the most part, agree. So do MUW students and grads.

Rick Cleveland

Just do it, they say. Get rid of the flag that embarrasses us and holds us all back. Get rid of the flag that sends so many thousands of our smartest young people out of state to make their way in life. Get rid of the flag that limits our economic opportunities. Get rid of the flag that draws scorn from the rest of the country and the world.

Just do it. It is past time.

It most certainly is. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that sports have provided the one of the most compelling and visible reasons for change. Recent actions by the NCAA, Southeastern Conference and Conference USA, which would ban championship sporting events from the state because of the flag, have increased pressure on state leaders to change the flag. Not that the universities necessarily needed more impetus. They quit flying the flag years ago.

I have spent a lifetime covering sports in Mississippi, a state remarkably passionate about its athletic teams and its athletes. Sports are something we do quite well in Mississippi, especially for a relatively small, poor and mostly rural state. We often lead the nation in putting players into pro football and into its Pro Football Hall of Fame. Our college baseball teams are often among the nation’s best. Our citizenry attends those games in phenomenal numbers. Players and coaches come here from other states and are amazed at the passion our people have for the games.

Sports bring us together in Mississippi. Those of us who lived through the integration of our schools know this better than most. In many, many cases — and in most Mississippi towns — sports showed the way. Sports showed us, right there on the courts and fields in front of us, that black kids and white kids could play together and become better together than they had been apart. Sports showed us that the color of one’s skin is not the ultimate decider. That hard work and team work matter most.

In small towns such as Mize and Weir and Pelahatchie and Mount Olive, black and white kids came together and won big. We have watched real-life “Remember the Titans” stories across the state, and we are better for it.

We live in a state that is approximately 38 percent African American. And yet we live in a state where the state flag serves as a sad reminder of a war fought to retain the evil institution of slavery, of people owning people.

And please, don’t tell me the flag, with its Confederate battle flag emblem, represents our heritage. That’s so much bull waste. When Mississippi seceded from the United States, it did so because, as our leaders wrote: “Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery – the greatest material interest in the world.” It’s right there in black and white in Mississippi’s declaration of secession. Look it up.

The flag that now flies over our Capitol was designed nearly three decades after the war. It was pushed through the legislature — no referendum — after the period known as Reconstruction. It was meant to show black people who was still in charge. It was a rallying point for Jim Crow — and if you don’t know what that was, then look it up. And now that battle flag emblem has been adopted by hate groups — from the Ku Klux Klan, to Skinheads to Nazis. Nevertheless, the flag still flies over our state capitol.

Mississippi, we can do better.

We must do better. The Legislature can make this happen now. Have a backbone. Make a stand. Leave a legacy.

It is time.

The post Sports has taught us much in Mississippi. Now it unites many of us over the state flag. appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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Sons of Confederate Veterans and other groups parade on the grounds of the state Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016, in support of keeping the Confederate battle emblem on the state flag. The public display of Confederate symbols has come under increased scrutiny since June, when nine black worshippers were massacred at a church in South Carolina. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Legislative leaders believe they still do not have the necessary votes to change the state flag, which features the Confederate battle emblem, after multiple closed-door meetings held Monday in efforts to develop a politically palatable and feasible way to address the issue.

As calls to remove the Confederate battle emblem from the Mississippi state flag intensify, lawmakers have discussed whether to change the flag that was adopted in 1894.

Two trial balloons floated over the weekend — having two separate official state flags and/or letting voters decide the fate of the flag — have drawn major opposition from both the public and many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

The biggest hurdle leaders face is that any change to the flag or putting it on a ballot this late in the legislative session would require a two-thirds vote of the both the 122-member House and 52-member Senate to suspend its rules.

Late Monday afternoon, House Speaker Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann met for almost an hour in the lieutenant governor’s office where various issues, including the flag, were addressed related to trying to end the session by Friday as planned.

“I have been for changing it. I am still trying to find a path to make that happen,” Gunn said at the conclusion of his meeting with Hosemann.

Lawmakers in both chambers and in both parties on Monday backed away from the notion of adopting a second official state flag.

“I don’t think the two-flag solution is a viable option,” Gunn said on Monday.

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves in a statement Monday also panned the two-flag proposal as the “Separate but Equal flag option” and said: “I don’t think it’s a viable alternative.” Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann on Monday said: “We’re discussing a lot of options and getting a feel for the members of the Senate.”

Before and after Monday’s meeting with Gunn, Hosemann met with multiple Senate Democrats – most of whom have publicly opposed both a referendum to change the flag and the two-flag solution. They believe the banner should be changed by a vote of the Legislature.

“Are we going to pass a bond bill or a teacher pay raise by a referendum?” asked Sen. Derrick Simmons, D-Greenville. “We didn’t ask the people to vote on those issues.”

Sen. Angela Turner Ford, D-West Point, chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, said the Legislature has changed the state seal without asking for a vote of the people. She said the issue of the flag should not be any different.

The Legislative Black Caucus and the 45-member House Democratic Caucus said they oppose any plan to have two separate state flags. They also oppose putting the issue on a ballot, saying it’s the Legislature’s job to change the flag, and want a straight legislative vote on changing it.

But Reeves, who has not clearly said whether he supports changing the flag, on Monday reiterated his stance that the only way it should be changed is by popular vote. Overriding a gubernatorial veto of any legislative change also would require a two-thirds vote that appears nonexistent.

Still, as Mississippi again suffers under the glare of the national spotlight for having a symbol tied to white supremacy in the canon of its official banner, more in the state’s white, Republican leadership are supporting change.

“Our state is at a point in its history that there is no choice but to retire its current state flag,” Republican Rep. Nick Bain of Corinth, a House Judiciary chairman, said Monday. As late as last week, Bain had been “a no comment” on the combustible issue.

“The impending economic, social and cultural pressures are going to create a storm that this state cannot weather,” Bain said. “Therefore, it is imperative that our legislature begins to consider options on how we replace the flag. This is an emotional issue and the politically easy vote for me is to keep the flag. However, there comes a time when every generation must make a change for the better.”

Bain continued: “It is now time, and I am convicted that changing the flag makes Alcorn County and Mississippi better. Whenever my time in public service is complete, I want my children to look back and be proud of what I’ve done. A vote to keep the flag does not accomplish this goal.”

Late last week, the NCAA and Southeastern Conference applied pressure to lawmakers to change the flag as both groups threatened to remove postseason collegiate sporting events from being hosted in the state until the flag changed. Dozens of current and former college athletes in the state pushed the NCAA to make that decision.

On Monday, Mississippi State’s star running back Kylin Hill tweeted that he would not play football until the flag changed.

Late last week, Rep. Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, said: “A flag’s sole purpose is to unite a people around a common cause. Reality has proven clear that the Mississippi flag no longer unites, but divides us unnecessarily. I will not sit by idly while our college athletes lose their hard-earned right to compete in post season play before our home state fans over a banner that no longer accomplishes its sole mission to unify our people. I will stand up for our student athletes. It is time to change the flag. It is the right thing to do.”

But, of course, not all legislators agree with Lamar and Bain.

Rep. Ken Morgan, R-Morgantown, recently said, he believes the flag “should stay like it is.”

“I had two great, great granddaddies who fought under that flag,” Morgan said.

The House Democratic Caucus on Monday issued a statement against having two flags or a referendum vote. It said House Democrats are “prepared to vote against any measure short of taking an up or down vote for change.”

“Mississippi House Democrats for years have consistently urged the Mississippi Legislature to do its job and make tough decisions in the best interest of the people of this state,” the statement said. “The decision to remove the Confederate battle emblem from our state flag is one of those decisions. It is our decision to make, and the time to make it is now.”

But Sen. Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall, said he believes most state senators “clearly” do not believe the flag should be changed without a referendum.

“A lot of people think there should be a vote like we had in 2001,” Fillingane said. “That seems to be what most senators believe.”

The post Legislative leaders say they’re still short of necessary votes to change state flag appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Pixabay

The state is seeing the nation’s second highest rate of current hospitalizations per Covid-19 case, in addition to being tied for the second highest per capita hospitalization rate. The two metrics point to an increasing strain on the hospital system.

Mississippi currently has the second highest COVID-19 hospitalization rate in the U.S., as the state enters its fifth day without releasing new case counts or data trends.

Hospitalization data has been the only new data released since June 19, when the Mississippi Department of Health issued new case numbers for June 17 and released a statement apologizing for data delays saying that “the agency is working to address legacy software issues impacting its ability create detailed reports.” Though technical problems have lately delayed daily reports, only once before now – June 11 – has the agency completely forgone daily numbers.

As of Friday, Mississippi saw its peak hospitalization of confirmed COVID-19 cases at 516. Confirmed and suspected cases – both require hospital resources for isolation, bed space devoted to coronavirus care and health care worker protective equipment – accounted for 689 hospitalized patients.

Total hospitalized patients, confirmed and suspected cases, jumped to 710 – tied with June 11 for the most ever – Monday morning after dipping to 662 on Saturday, according to the health department’s limited data released. The state’s overall hospitalization rate stands at 239 per million residents with 3 percent of state COVID cases currently hospitalized – both second highest in the U.S., according to national data from The COVID Tracking Project.

Early on in the pandemic, Mississippi saw the highest cumulative rate of hospitalizations per positive case – when more than 30 percent of all COVID cases had been hospitalized – but has since successfully brought that rate down to about 15 percent. But now, the state is seeing the nation’s second highest rate of current hospitalizations per case, in addition to being tied for the second highest per capita rate. The two rates are different metrics, but both point to the same problem – an increasing strain on the hospital system, as echoed by the state’s top health official.

State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs on Thursday said that the state was seeing “significant stress” on the health care system after warning about growing hospital pressure for weeks, particularly in central Mississippi. “It’s very possible that someone is going to have a heart attack and they’re going to show up at the hospital and there’s not going to be a ventilator,” he said, reiterating that ongoing community spread, and the hospitalizations that spawn from it, are due to lack of adherence to social distancing guidelines and suggestions to wear masks.

Though previously telling reporters that he will get more compliance by encouraging rather than requiring masks, Gov. Tate Reeves said last week that he would not take more community mask mandates off the table. 

Looking at the current total COVID-19 hospitalizations per capita, Mississippi falls behind only Arizona, which has reported new case surges this month, and is tied with Washington D.C. Using current hospitalizations with confirmed cases alone, Mississippi ranks third most in the nation for per capita hospitalizations.

Using another metric – current hospitalization rate per COVID-19 case, essentially the percent of all COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized – Mississippi ranks second overall, behind only Arizona, based on confirmed and suspected hospitalization cases. Using confirmed alone, Mississippi ranks ninth currently. This data cannot be analyzed based on current active or recent cases, because that data has not been released by the state.

Historically though, since the early hospitalization rate spike in April, Mississippi has had relatively flat hospital use until this month, to the point where both Gov. Reeves and Dobbs said that the state had successfully “flattened the curve,” meaning reduced the number of cases enough to not overwhelm the hospital system. But since Memorial Day, new cases, both daily and as a rolling average, have reversed previous flat or downward trends with new peaks and upward trends despite average tests trending down, and hospitalizations have followed along.

Health care workers, including Dr. Alan Jones who heads the emergency department at University of Mississippi Medical Center, expressed worry during re-opening plans about a resurgence in cases and hospitalizations. 

Despite the recent influx of hospitalizations, COVID intensive care units and ventilator-use have remained relatively stable, but have increased for non-COVID patients in recent weeks as average hospital use, trauma care and surgeries return to normal, resulting in overall low availability, according to Dobbs. As of Sunday, national trackers show the state’s ICU availability in the low range, at 29 percent, tied for eighth lowest in the U.S.

Without new case totals, Mississippi Today used the most recent average new cases, 319 per day, to estimate total cases at 21,917. Even without adding these and leaving the last known total, 20,641 as of June 18, both hospitalization rate metrics rank in the top three in the nation. At last count, Mississippi estimated 79 percent of all COVID-19 cases in the state had recovered.

Editor’s note: Five minutes after this story posted Monday, MSDH updated new case information for the last five days of missing data, totaling 1,646 new cases for “Five days of combined COVID-19 positive tests results reported to MSDH as of 6 p.m. yesterday.” This averages 329 new cases per day, but exact case counts for each missing day have not been provided. Check our data page for more updates. 

The post Mississippi COVID-19 hospitalization rate ranks second in nation amid state data blackout appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Follow all of Mississippi Today’s coverage of the Mississippi state flag.

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conferenceusa.com

The 2019 Conference USA Tournament brough $2.1 million to the Gulf Coast.

Mississippi has hosted the last six Conference USA Baseball Tournaments and 11 of the league’s tournaments since 1996. But the Magnolia State will not host another unless the state flag, which displays the Confederate battle flag, is changed.

Conference USA Monday followed suit with the Southeastern Conference and the NCAA, announcing that no C-USA championship event will be held in Mississippi until there is a change. That would include the C-USA football championship game should the Southern Miss Golden Eagles qualify to host it.

Nine of the last 10 Conference USA baseball tournaments have been held in Mississippi, four at Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg, three at MGM Park in Biloxi and two at Trustmark Park in Pearl. The 2020 tournament, canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, was to have been held at MGM Park.

The 2022 C-USA baseball tournament had been scheduled for Pete Taylor Park, but the league will find another site if Mississippi does not change its state flag.

An economic impact study of the 2019 C-USA Tournament found that the event generated $2.1 million for the Gulf Coast, with more than 10,000 visitors staying an average of 3.5 days.

Jeremy McClain

Southern Miss athletic director Jeremy McClain said he was not surprised by the league’s decision. Nonetheless, McClain said he was disappointed “any time when there is a situation where your student-athletes are penalized for something that is beyond their control.”

McClain took it a step further. “I am totally supportive of the NCAA and our conference,” he said. “This flag issue is much bigger than our hosting any kind of post-season sports event and even bigger than the economic impact of losing these events. There’s a bigger picture here. We need to change this flag in Mississippi.”

The 2021 Conference USA Tournament is slated for Ruston, La., and Louisiana Tech’s new baseball stadium currently under construction. Lane Burroughs, the highly successful Louisiana Tech coach, is a Collinsville native with strong Mississippi ties. Burroughs is a Mississippi College graduate who coached at both Southern Miss and Mississippi State before taking the Tech job.

Burroughs said he was not surprised by Monday’s C-USA news, but he was disappointed for his home state.

“It’s so very unfortunate,” Burroughs said. “My blood runs deep in Mississippi. College baseball is so strong in Mississippi. You just hate to see schools like Southern Miss, State, Ole Miss, Delta State and my alma mater, Mississippi College, lose chances to host post-season tournaments in a state that is so crazy about college baseball.

“That said, I’m on board with the decision. It’s time for Mississippi to change not only the flag, but what’s in our hearts.”

The post No more C-USA post-season events in Miss. until the state flag is changed appeared first on Mississippi Today.